Posted on 06 Feb 2023
Sales of heavy-duty trucks in China during January slumped by 53% on year, according to a preliminary estimate released by Beijing-headquartered Commercial Vehicle World (CVWorld), a well-recognized market intelligence provider on China's truck manufacturing sector. If the January proves correct, it will make for the 21st consecutive monthly on-year decline.
During last month, CVWorld estimates that the country's heavy truck sales totaled 45,000 units – the lowest for any January since 2017.
Accounting partly for the large decline was the high base of January last year where the total reached 95,400 units, the highest monthly sales recorded for any month throughout 2022, CVWorld noted.
Contributing too was that fact that this year, the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday spanned January 21-27 while in 2021, it fell during February 11-17. CNY is traditionally a slack consumption period for heavy trucks, as most consumers and vehicle dealers are preoccupied with celebrations and travelling to spend time with families, rather than spend money buying new heavy vehicles. Therefore, the demand for trucks waned in the retail sales market, CVWorld said.
Moreover, the continuing decline in freight transport charges and a lack of cargoes in the logistics market continued to dampen the sales, CVWorld added.
Sales of heavy trucks this month are seen growing from January, with the restart of projects across China after the CNY holiday. Sales of heavy trucks will start to recover after the Lantern Festival on February 5, the day that traditionally marks the last day of CNY celebrations.
Besides, the strong performance of exports is likely to be sustained, which is good news at the start of 2023. The total export volume of heavy trucks in January is estimated at around 10,000 units. Throughout 2022, China's total exports of heavy trucks amounted to 170,000 units, a historical high, according to CVWorld's data.
Source:Mysteel Global
